


Will of A Flower

by MoonWitch96



Category: Naruto
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe, COMPLETELY IGNORING BARUTO, Don't Like Don't Read, Drabble, F/M, Fantasy, Friendship, Haruno Sakura-centric, No the chapters won't get longer, Platonic Relationships, Romanace? Eventually?, Third Shinobi War, sorta - Freeform, time-travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-15 13:42:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29065272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonWitch96/pseuds/MoonWitch96
Summary: Time-travel and de-aging into a four-year-old wasn't on any bucket lists Sakura had made, but of course, she just has to have a bad day. Now she had to deal with the fact that she's horrible at keeping things as they are, and that the future, or the present she knew, is going to be gone by the time she's back. Opps.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura & Namikaze Minato, Haruno Sakura & Nohara Rin, Haruno Sakura & Third Hokage, Haruno Sakura & Tsunade, Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Itachi, Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Obito, Namikaze Minato/Uzumaki Kushina
Comments: 14
Kudos: 108





	1. Chapter 1

Of course, turning to the size of a four-year-old again wasn't really what nineteen-year-old Sakura Hanuro had planned to do on a fairly routine B-ranked mission.

_No, that was get in, get out, take the easy money, and sleep the rest of the day._

But things had apparently been going too well for her. And true to the ridiculousness that usually plagued her best friend, she had been reduced to suffer something impossible. Hell, she hadn't even conceived the thought, interesting as it was medically to think about, to condense a healthy nine-teen-year-old shinobi into a pint-sized version of herself. Yet here she was, scrambling out of her now too large boots as the man with the very _interesting_ Kekkei Genkai rushed forward, strange kunai out and ready to do what he must have done a thousand times before.

_Like, stab her straight through the chest in a single, terrifyingly swift move that she had barely even seen. And she trained with **Lee-kun** , for Konohona's sake._

She was surprised at how gentle the stab was.

It still hurt like hell, the thing had gone straight through her chest, but it had been a quick and soft blow as far as chest stabs go, and she would know from a lot of personal experience.

She hadn't expected him to shoot her these sad eyes either, or the faint tug at the center of her heart as he had made the thing go hilt deep. Pushing it deeper. Three prongs, even as sharp as they were, hurt like hell and she could feel her sternum crumpling, her lungs collapsing, her heart stuttering even as she forced it to steady itself and that was not _pleasant_.

"I am so sorry, but my mission must be done," he said, all sad and wistful.

She had wanted to say something along the lines of fuck you. But instead, as the day seemed intent on being all around the worst day of her life since the days of the Fourth Ninja War, she found herself falling away from the enemy shinobi, a light so bright that it gave her after-images coming from the seal-etched kunai.

When she blinked, the ninja was gone from the branch, and surprisingly, so were her boots. She didn't know why that was important as she kept falling, but as she crashed through the branches below her, and heard a startled shoot, it seemed to be. _Because I like that pair and they were supposed to be **there.**_ Someone caught her, arms firm and warm through hazy vision full of black spots, she could see bright blue eyes. _Ah. That was good. Great heroic timing as always. Ramen's on her. She'll even do some paperwork instead of tossing it at Shikamaru as she usually did._

Sakura knew those blue eyes.

Knew them better than her own green ones, she had seen them so much since she was a child.

" _Naruto_... You're... Late," she slurred, and as the startling blue eyes looked down at her, she could only think that the knucklehead she knew so well was going to do the impossible and set things right.


	2. Chapter 2

Namikaze Minato was a war harden ninja.

_A strick product of war, grim in ways that sometimes even scared him, a blade for his village because he must be, to protect those he loves._

He had seen death on genocidal scales. _Swathes of blood and hole-ridden battleground._ He had caused death on genocidal scales. _Ripe with numbness, his head held high as he moved_ _ **faster and faster**_ _to get his people **safe.**_ Seen amazing and terrifying things in his life. _A pretty red-haired girl that made his heart **pound,** gone in a flash, taken by someone and he would **not stand it.**_ And as far he was concerned nothing could really surprise him. He was a shinobi. He _caused_ the surprise because he was a damn good shinobi.

Or at least, that was what he thought.

Then a pink-haired child crashed down from the trees above him.

He had reacted on instinct, leaping up, hands already outstretched. It could have been an ambush, a trick he would be all too eager to fall into but Minato was ready. All but ignoring his genin's shouting out in warning or alarm, and caught the small form before it went through too many branches. The child was small, barely out of being a toddler, perhaps, fit comfortably in his arms.

He was sure as hell surprised when he had caught sight of the hilt deep three-prong kunai protruding from the girl's small chest, and hazy green eyes looking at him in both relief and slight humor.

She beamed.

The child beamed like all little children did when they were scared and hurting, but suddenly seeing a familiar, safe face.

"Naruto... You're... Late," said the girl, slurring but obvious humor for whoever this Naruto was. A delicate, pale hand, covered in scratches reached up and touched his face with all the familiarity of someone who held him, dear.

She promptly passed out, and he turned to his team and was not surprised to see them so frozen up. They were barely more than children, all of his genin.

"Rin," he called out and the young medic blinked before she leaped into action.

She made him put down the girl with a polite nod, her hands glowing already as she set to work on the girl's chest. He cataloged several scrapes and bruises on the girl's skin, as well as a nasty cut on her calf before he turned to the boys.

"Kakashi, search the area, Obito, you're going to have to play nurse," he said firmly, and he watched as Kakashi gave a clipped nod, his dark gray eyes flickering to the girl for a second, narrowed in suspicion, before he turned around and disappeared.

Obito looked aghast and plain sickened by the sight of the girl, but quickly went started boiling water at Rin's sharp request.

Minato jumped, high, into the trees, from the direction the girl had come from and was fairly confused as he found nothing. Not a single clue to tell him where on earth this girl had fallen from.

It was as if she had appeared out of nothing.


	3. Chapter 3

Hatake Kakashi was not generally a trusting person.

_Shinobi rule a hundred and seventy, a shinobi is always, always wary of anyone that is not of their village._

It was a given, of course, he was a ninja, and a damn good one at that, even at seven he understood that something was _wrong_ about the young girl his Sensei had decided to bring back to Konoha.

_Sensei, always trusting, always too **open** to be the man he is._

The girl may be injured. The girl may be young, _but so were they,_ and while abnormal, it was not unheard to have a ploy of this nature. An injured infiltrator, or to lead them into a false sense of urgency. Young and delicate looking, conveniently looking frail and sweet with her pink hair-

But the girl had smiled at Sensei, called him another name, relief, too true for falsehood, as far as Kakashi could tell.

She didn't _seem_ to know who they were.

And he knew, that as a field medic, he understood that Rin could only do so much. The girl needed the medical facilities at the hospital. Even if they had found the still unconscious girl on the outskirts of neutral territory that blended with the friendly territory, he found something wrong about the whole thing, and part of him thought they should have left the girl to bleed out.

_It doesn't matter that she's so small. Or how delicate she looks. A suspicious person should be dealt with, shinobi rule fifty-six._

But he wasn't as cold to say that. Didn't, or maybe couldn't say that aloud. He did feel bad for her, even if she did turn out to be a spy. She had been dressed in an overly large set of clothing that had looked like had seen better days. Covered from head to toe in scarps and bruises, _stabbed through the chest,_ and in the two days, it had taken them to bring her back to the village the girl had done nothing but give out small whimpers and breath heavily.

Rin was constantly pumping in chakra, face strained, worried. Obito was hovering like a mother hen that had just gotten its head chopped off... Minato-sensei... Well, the man was constantly on alert, which put him on edge, and anything that put him on edge tended to get him irritated. It had been two days of tense, irritating air that would not get better.

Kakashi had never been so glad to see the village gates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: 12 February 2021


	4. Chapter 4

When Hanuro Sakura woke up, her chest hurt like a bitch.

_Definitely got stabbed through my chest. That's a frightfully familiar feeling. What did Kakashi-sensei say, "Mah, Sakura-chan, don't make it a habit?". Well, failed on that front Sensei. It's not my fault that the chest is a vulnerable and **large** target._

She blinked at the unfamiliar ceiling above her, rapidly, eyelids feeling sluggish and heavy. Her mouth tasted like something had died and rotted in there. Also depressingly familiar. An awful lingering sensation of something was wrong strong in her mind. She could feel the IV in the crook of her arm and sensed more than saw the presence of someone in the room with her.

It wasn't a chakra she was familiar with.

And it was the reason she reacted as she did. On instinct, quick as lightning, she pulled out her IV. She jumped into a sitting position and then went to stand defensively. She was about to throw her makeshift weapon when her legs wobbled. Bucked. And then gave out completely.

Sakura fell into a graceless heap.

She barely managed not to stab herself with her weapon by sheer luck.

"Nurse!" called out the man in front of her, voice slightly panicked.

"Where am I?" She demanded in a hiss, and though she hoped for pissed and righteous, she got soft and high instead.

She looked up, eyes narrowed, IV at the ready, never mind the fact that she couldn't seem to move. She was still Haruno Sakura, damnit, and she could make her pinky deadly if she needed it.

She blinked. And blinked again in sheer surprise.

"Konoha hospital, in Fire Country," said the man, and strikingly familiar eyes looked back at her, quite like Naruto's.

Everything about the man, as a matter of fact, looked like Naruto. His face was leaner, his hair longer and spiked differently maybe... But he looked like her Hokage, and subsequently like the Fourth as a result. She frowned and raised her makeshift weapon higher.

A nurse came in then and gasped.

"What is going on here?!" she snapped out, jumping forward, only to be stopped by Sakura.

She snapped off a bit of her IV with practiced ease and launched it to land right at the nurse's feet. It was enough to stop her in her tracks.

"Where am I?" she demanded again.

The Not-Naruto looked at her sympathetically, his palms forward, as if he was talking to a wild animal. Her eyes darted back and forth between the man and the nurse, eyes wide and she felt her chest rise and fall rapidly as she sat up again. Her back muscles trembled in protest, but Sakura refused to drop again.

"Konoha hospital," said the man again, lying to her, and she raised her weapon again, eyes narrowed at his blatant lie.

She knew Konoha hospital, she spent most of her time in Konoha there, as the head of the hospital. This was obviously a very carefully placed illusion, frightfully realistic, but ill-researched. If they would have never chosen the hospital, they may have gotten away with it. There were so many wrong details that she could single out since she nearly lived there. She must have gotten captured, and she was pissed that she had. _Naruto is going to skip out on paperwork with this as an excuse, and I will never hear the end of it from Kakashi-sensei for needing the 'rescue'._ But she decided to play along if only to make sure she could escape. It was a miracle they hadn't recognized her, her pink hair was a signature, as was her seal.

"Why am I here?" she asked instead and she hated how small her voice sounded. She swallowed thickly.

"You were hurt when my team found you," he said soothingly, and she would have believed him if it weren't for the fact that Sakura was onto his bullshit.

She narrowed her eyes and did a small internal check on her body. Her chakra was low, her legs felt weak as if she had been sleeping for days. She had about two seconds flat to get past the man and out the window, and she could do that-

"Well, it isn't every day a little girl threatens a grown Jonin with an IV," Sakura froze, and her eyes bolted to the door, and a stately old man she had once known stared at her.

The _Third Hokage_ stared at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: 26 FEBRUARY 2021


	5. Chapter 5

Sakura had learned to live with a lot in the course of her life.

All and all, having the Kyuubi vessel as her best friend tended to help you believe in the impossible. She stared at the man in front of her, and she forced her face into a neutral mask. It was hard to do so, she was emotional at best, and she couldn't decide what was the best face to use to face a _dead_ man. Her chest heaved, and she had the distinct feeling of bile rise up in her throat.

 _Naruto wouldn't hate her for seeing him,_ she thought, knowing how close he had been with the old man, _but I hate myself a little for not having him be the one in this situation_. This situation, real or not, trickery or impossible circumstance, fit much more with the normal ridiculousness the Seventh Hokage of the Villiage Hidden in the Leaves got up to.

_This is not good._

Illusion or not, she had to get away, her eyes flickered to the door, and she tried to ignore looking at the old (yet somehow younger-looking) man that stood in his Kage robes, looking stately and amused.

"I don't think you can make it very far if you try to run, you've been asleep for a few weeks. Besides, you're bleeding," said the old man, and her head snapped back to him. Automatically she healed her wound, focusing her sluggish chakra into the small wound on instinct, as well into her chest.

The nurse gasped, and Sakura hissed as she felt her knees buckle, black spots appearing in her vision. The world tilted, and she vaguely tried to twist the IV away from her so she wouldn't get stabbed and was caught into warm arms.

"Easy," said the tall Not-Naruto, and she grimaced at him, puzzled by the fact that that simple attempt to heal her chest and arm had made her so weak, "You're safe."

_I most fucking definitely am **not.**_

She took a deep breath and looked at her chakra reserves, tentatively. What she felt there made her cry out, for her chakra was so small and pathetic she might as well have been a paperweight at that point. She was alarmed when the Third Hokage approached her, brown eyes sharpening and the teeth he had clenched around his clay pipe. Sakura swallowed.

"Something wrong child?" and the piercing gaze he gave her reminded her of his nickname, _the Professor._

_And the fact that he had **raised** the first generation of the Sanin._

She didn't say a word but gave the man a quick nod.

"I think so as well. Minato, this girl is going to disclose why such a small child knows medical Jutsu, and if she doesn't, well, I'm sure Konohagakure Intelligence Division can give us answers," his words were spoken almost jovially, and there was a tone of reluctance in his inflection.

But also grim acceptance.

She tried to struggle, but the ninja who held her, held fast, and they disappeared in a yellow flash.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: 12 MARCH 2021

**Author's Note:**

> EDIT: 29 JANUARY 2021
> 
> This is an old story I wrote WAAAAY back in 2014 over on fanfiction, and I am currently, as many of my regular readers know, in the process of editing all my stories. I've uploaded the best version of stuff here on AO3, 'cause I really enjoy this site. 
> 
> The story is over there, in a much more raw form if anyone is interested to check it out:  
> https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10289343/1/Will-Of-A-Flower


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